One theme that has been invoked in this year’s presidential campaign is “American exceptionalism.”

It’s a highly charged political term that describes the United States’ evolution from its European settlement through its westward expansion and dominance on the world economic stage – exceptional because a civilization becoming so powerful so quickly was unprecedented and maybe even divinely predestined. This was embodied in people who were tough, ambitious and often inspired by religion.

American exceptionalism – good, bad and ugly – is the most enduring national mythology.

Robert Schenkkan gives the exceptionalism trope a devastating examination and indictment in “The Kentucky Cycle.” Schenkkan’s meditation on American history is one that is not learned in any school textbooks, not dedicated with holidays and parades, and not seen or spoken of – because humanity’s ideals and evils are in face-to-face confrontation. In Schenkkan’s hands, American mythology meets the same fate as most of “The Kentucky Cycle” characters.

“The Kentucky Cycle,” winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for best drama, is more than a suite of plays – it is an incendiary weapon. Appropriately, California Repertory Company is staging it at the National Guard Armory in Long Beach. “The Kentucky Cycle” is relentless, cruel and guaranteed to shock and agonize political and ethnic backgrounds across the board. That is precisely why “The Kentucky Cycle” deserves the highest recommendation to see.

Cal Rep embraces the challenge of wielding such a lethal piece of drama, and uses it responsibly to carry out the playwright’s intent and impart moving and explosive philosophical themes.

Because of the unique performance structure “The Kentucky Cycle” employs, this review can divulge very little of the plot details. The title itself refers to a suite of nine one-act plays that are short and complete on their own. A lot of drama and detail are packed into each act and summaries would spoil the key plot points for each act and their transitions. Moreover, “The Kentucky Cycle” is as entrepreneurial as it is artistically adventurous; the suite is broken into two parts running in repertory. Part I encompasses the American Revolution period to the Civil War; Part II – premiering Friday – continues from the 1860s to the 1970s.

The first five plays of Part I focus on the settlement, rise, fall and redemption of the Rowen clan and their associations from “Masters of the Trade” (Act I, 1775) to “God’s Great Supper” (Act V, 1861).

The stories are tied together by family and a vast homestead in Kentucky, but the characters’ destinies are formed in a crucible of a pitiless social values system and a constant state of war. Fortunes are made and reversed through treachery and murder.

Michael Rowen (David Vegh) is the founding patriarch, who arrives to the new continent as a wandering Scots-Irish migrant. He finds fortune in the American experience, but one that is attained and maintained through the blood of those he vanquishes. Michael’s son Patrick (Darren Nash) inherits his dad’s birthright, but by a combination of fate and coincidence, he sees his birthright slip through his fingers and becomes what his mother, the Cherokee woman Morning Star (Deborah Lazor), said would be his curse: being his father’s son.

Patrick and the United States both evolve. Both are just as cruel, but the brutality evolves from the long rifle to the legal system. His sons Ezekiel (Alex Levin) and Zachariah (Kyle Hall) are now responsible for redeeming their family’s name while in abject poverty, all while the Civil War tears apart what once were united states.

Describing the transpiration of the Rowen legacy as barbaric would be an understatement. “The Kentucky Cycle” is so psychologically and emotionally engaging it defies drawing a single explanation or moral lesson from events. The characters are captivating because there are no heroes. They also swing like a pendulum from swaggering and contemptible to pathetic and anguished.

Audiences are accustomed to seeing heroes and villains clearly defined and easily interpreted. There’s none of that here.

“The Kentucky Cycle” dares to confront the audience about the values it holds dear. Conservatives would find Schenkkan’s iconoclastic treatment of American myths scurrilous and blasphemous. Liberals would be unhinged by the humanization of unscrupulous land and business barons, murderers and rapists, as well as disturbed by the relations of the white characters with the American Indians and the black slaves, which have neither harmony nor a war with a redeeming outcome.

There’s something in it for everyone to be repulsed – as there should be. Most audience members at premiere night could be heard gasping or groaning at the explicit subject matter.

The cast members shine, not only in their portrayals of damnable and damned human beings, but also because they must act out several roles each throughout the cycle. Just one good example of many is Nash, who was most visible as Patrick Rowen but also appeared as a Cherokee and was hypnotic as the nefarious Confederate war hero Quantrill.

The costume and makeup crews are stellar in re-creating early American dresses and making actors distinctly different for the various roles.

Director Trevor Biship had the biggest challenge of all: He had to present scenes of intense carnage without the aid of special effects to maximize the gore. The acting conveyed brutality, and the stage did not have to be showered with blood to have the same impact.

One flaw, though, comes from the improvised venue of the Armory gymnasium. It’s a nice subtle symbolic nod for such a volatile play, but the acoustics are not suitable for performing arts. Males with tenor voices produced too much echo and at many times were not clear. Females and deeper male voices were fine, though.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.